No. 1 Archbishop McCarthy Tops Arlington In NHSI Opener For Both

CARY, N.C.—Archbishop McCarthy High (Southwest Ranches, Fla.) righthander Joe Perez didn’t have his best stuff Wednesday against Arlington (Tenn.) High in the second game of the 2017 National High School Invitational, but it didn’t matter.

Perez, who is Baseball America’s No. 42 overall draft prospect, worked three innings on 67 pitches as McCarthy topped Arlington 3-1. Perez sat 91-93 with his fastball, scattering a few 94s and touching 95 once during the outing, while also utilizing an upper 70s/lower 80s slider. Archbishop McCarthy ranks No. 1 on the Baseball America/BCA Top 25 rankings.

For many high school pitchers, that would be phenomenal. For Joe Perez—not his best stuff.

“He was a little off,” Archbishop head coach Rich Bielski said. “But Joe’s a battler. Joe’s a bulldog on the mound, anytime we put him out there he always puts us in a great position to win the ballgame. And he battled for us, kept us in the ballgame and we were able to get a few more runs than they did today.”

Perez allowed just one run over his three innings, while striking out six batters and walking three. He lost his command a bit in the third inning, walking back-to-back batters, but responded with a three-pitch strikeout where he touched his highest velo of the day (95) and got three swings and misses on his fastball.

“To be honest, I didn’t have my best stuff today,” Perez said. “But I was able to pick up the feel for a couple of my pitches. Just went out there and tried to put our team in the best spot to win.”

Rightfielder Adan Fernandez paced McCarthy offensively, going 2-for-3 with a solo homer in the second inning that sparked a three-run inning, and a screaming double off the bottom of the left field fence in the sixth.

Alex Toral, the No. 55 overall draft prospect, went 1-for-3 and a hit-by-pitch after seeing a steady diet of breaking balls from Arlington senior lefty Blake Dallas, who gave his team 6.2 innings and 100 pitches.

“I always go out there and just try to execute every pitch and just hit my spot,” Dallas said. “And not only hit my spot, hit it with authority.”

Dallas threw 59 percent of his offerings for strikes, while surrendering just one earned run. Arlington leadoff hitter and shortstop Tate Kolwyck had a strong day at the plate, going 3-for-4 with three singles.

Mark Diaz and Yordani Carmona combined to throw four shutout innings of relief for McCarthy, helping the team seal their first win of the tournament. McCarthy left fielder Joey Thompson had arguably the top play of the game, when he tracked a deep fly ball from Drew Meadors and made a leaping grab into the left field fence.